NEW YORK’S GREAT LAKES CHARTER BOAT FISHING INDUSTRY: 1975-2002 Diane M. Kuehn 1.0 Introduction State University of New York The sport fisheries of New York’s Great Lakes Region College of Environmental Science and Forestry (comprised of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and the St. 211 Marshall Hall, 1 Forestry Drive, Syracuse, NY 13210 Lawrence and Niagara Rivers) contribute to the Frank R. Lichtkoppler economy of the coast as well as the quality of life of Ohio Sea Grant College Program residents. In the 1960s and 1970s, the sport fisheries were rehabilitated when five species of salmonines Charles Pistis were stocked (i.e., Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus Michigan Sea Grant College Program tshawytscha, coho salmon O. kisutch, rainbow trout Abstract O. mykiss, lake trout Salvelinus namaycush, and The charter boat fishing industry in New York’s Great brown trout Salmo trutta), and populations of walleye Lakes Region was established in the 1970s, following Stizostedion vitreum were re-established in Lake Erie the stocking of different species of fish in Lakes Ontario (Dawson, Lichtkoppler, and Pistis 1989). In response and Erie. Data on this industry were first collected by to the rehabilitated sport fisheries, angler effort in the New York Sea Grant in 1975 when 33 charter businesses region quickly increased. By 1988, 295,100 and 83,850 were in operation. The industry has since gone through anglers were fishing New York’s Lake Ontario and Lake both large increases and decreases in number of charter Erie, respectively (Connelly, Brown, and Knuth 1990). businesses. In 2002, a charter captain mail survey was In response to the expanded salmonid fishery and conducted by the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network in management policies that fostered sport fisheries rather each Great Lakes state, including New York, in order to than commercial net fisheries, a charter boat fishing identify the current status of the charter boat industry industry began to develop in the late 1960s. In 1990, at in each state and the Great Lakes Region as a whole. the height of angler effort, 560 charter businesses existed This presentation will focus on New York’s charter boat in New York’s Great Lakes Region. industry by highlighting the results of the 2002 New York charter captain survey and discussing trends in the charter industry since 1975. Results pertaining to In the early 1990s, declines in angler participation began, average number of charter trips per year, business income negatively impacting coastal economies and sport fishing- and expenses, advertising, customer markets, and future dependent businesses such as charter boat operations. On business plans of charter captains will be discussed using Lake Ontario, the estimated number of anglers declined descriptive statistics. Results from the 2002 Great Lakes 36% to 188,210 between 1988 and 1996; a decline of Region charter captain study will also be presented for 25% occurred on Lake Erie (63,020 anglers estimated comparison purposes. An estimated 305 captains were in 1996). Estimated at-location expenditures for anglers identified in New York’s Great Lakes Region in 2002; 143 decreased from nearly $134 million to $88 million of these captains returned surveys for a response rate of during this time period (Connelly, Brown, and Knuth 46%. Survey results indicate that the average New York 1990, 1997). By 1994, declines in angler participation State charter business was profitable and had a positive had already begun to affect the charter boat industry, net return of $4,313 in 2002, while the average Great reducing the number of charter businesses operating Lakes business had a negative net return of $791. Trends indicate that the size of New York’s industry increased along New York’s Great Lakes coast from 560 to 400 from 1975 to 1990, but then decreased between 1990, (Figure 1). 1994, and 2002 (a pattern followed by the entire Great Lakes charter industry as well). Although a 24% decline Similar declines in angler activity and number of charter in size occurred in New York’s industry between 1994 boat businesses occurred throughout the Great Lakes and 2002, increases in total income from charter boat Region of the United States during this period as well. operators increased by 18% to $6.99 million because of The estimated number of anglers in the Great Lakes increased business profitability. The size of New York’s Region declined from 3.766 million in 1985 to 2.552 charter industry is expected to decrease slightly over the million anglers by 1991, and decreased further to 1.847 next 5 years (based on the stated future plans of charter million by 2001. Total angler expenditures from Great captains), while profitability is expected to increase. 256 Proceedings of the 2004 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium GTR-NE-326 3500 3000 2500 2000 New York's Great Lakes 1500 Great Lakes 1000 500 0 1970s 1980s 1994 2002 Year Figure 1.—Number of charter boat businesses in New York’s Great Lakes Region and the entire Great Lakes Region, 1970s-2002. Lake trips likewise declined from an estimated $1.56 were updated to reflect current issues. In January and billion in 1985 to an estimated $1.27 billion in 2001 February of 2003, the New York and Ohio Sea Grant (USDI Fish and Wildlife Service 1988; USDI Fish and programs surveyed all identified charter fishing captains Wildlife Service and USDC Census Bureau 1993, 2002). in New York’s Great Lakes Region by mail using a modified Total Design Method (Dillman 1978). Captains This study was conducted to identify the status of New throughout the Great Lakes Region of the United States York’s Great Lakes charter boat industry in the United were surveyed at the same time. A sample of captains was States in 2002. For the purposes of this study, an active randomly selected for Ohio because of the large number charter captain has been defined as a United States of charter businesses in this state; other Great Lakes states Coast Guard licensed captain who operates sport fishing surveyed all identified captains. Nonrespondents were charters for a fee using a charter boat or boats that he sent three reminder letters. Data from responding charter or she owns or leases. Descriptive statistics are used to captains was entered into SPSS and analyzed using summarize the characteristics of the 2002 New York’s descriptive statistics. Great Lakes charter industry. Data on New York’s charter industry have been collected for nearly 30 years by New 3.0 Results York Sea Grant and the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network. A total of 143 captains returned surveys with usable The strong rapport between Sea Grant and charter data in 2003 for a response rate of 46%. A 24% decline captains resulted in a high survey response rate in 2002, occurred in the number of charter businesses between indicating a high validity of the results. The extensive 1994 (when an estimated 400 businesses existed) and charter-business-related experience of both Sea Grant 2002 (when 305 were identified). Of the responding staff and charter captains also likely contributes to the captains, 99% were based in New York and 1% in Ohio. validity of this study. The homeports of 69% of the responding captains were on Lake Ontario, followed by 11% on the St. Lawrence 2.0 Methods River, 11% on Lake Erie, and 9% on the Niagara River The New York charter boat industry study was part (Licthkoppler and Kuehn 2003). of a Great Lakes wide study undertaken by the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network. In fall 2002, New York Sea Of the 1,767 questionnaires distributed to charter Grant compiled a complete list of charter captains captains throughout the entire Great Lakes Region in along New York’s Great lakes coast from charter boat 2003, 871 were completed and returned for an overall association member lists and the business directories of response rate of 49%. An estimated 1,932 charter tourism promotion agencies and chambers of commerce. businesses existed in the Great Lakes Region of the The questionnaire used in the previous 1994 charter United States in 2002, a 12% decline from 1994 (Kuehn boat survey was used for the 2002 survey to ensure et al. 2004). comparability of data between years; several questions 1 Proceedings of the 2004 Northeastern Recreation Research Symposium GTR-NE-326 257 3.1 Business characteristics and 65% of the charter businesses were located on Lake The typical New York charter captain in 2002 had Ontario. Ten percent of the trips and almost 9% of the been licensed for an average of 15.4 years. All of the firms were on the St. Lawrence River. Less than nine responding captains were “six-pack” operators, licensed percent of the trips each were on Lake Erie and the to carry no more than six passengers. Captains indicated Niagara River, with almost 15% of the firms based on that they work in the charter fishing industry because Lake Erie and 11% located on the Niagara River. they enjoy helping people fish (77% of responding captains), like the work (72%), and to provide either a 3.3 Costs and Returns secondary (55%) or primary source of income (24%). The average cash needed to operate a charter business is Almost 99% of the responding captains operated their comprised of operating expenses plus boat loan payments own charter firm. Eighty-nine percent of the charter (Table 1). For boat-owning captains, the largest annual boat businesses were sole proprietorships, 6% were operating expenses were boat fuel, advertising, hired corporations, 3% were partnerships, and 2% had some labor, equipment repair, and boat dockage. In 2002, the other form of business structure.